October 17, 2014
This is a plan for someone who has the Common Capsule Wardrobe in grey and off-white, with a camel sweater, because they’re moving away from wearing black. (more on this idea another day). This someone has a special occasion coming up, and they want to expend their ENTIRE French 5-Piece Wardrobe on a new dress and some accessories:
Silver grey scarf – Yuh Okano, dress – Wood Wood, bracelet – Achara, pumps – Bella Vita, silver floral half hoop earrings – Kenari
These purchases aren’t “single-use”, of course; the scarf and jewelry could be worn with almost any of the outfits in The Common Wardrobe. The pumps will go nicely with our grey skirt (or with the jeans, if that’s a preference). And the dress is simple enough that it can be worn more casually, after the special occasion. Dark tights and flats or ankle boots will look really nice with this dress…But if you blow your entire season’s purchases on one outfit, plus accessories, what do you wear the rest of the time?
Here’s The Common Wardrobe that I thought up for this person:
Grey v-neck – Uniqlo, grey turtleneck – Uniqlo, grey cardigan – Uniqlo, camel v-neck – Uniqlo, off white silk blouse – Uniqlo, denim shirt – Uniqlo, grey tee – Uniqlo, off-white tee – Uniqlo, off-white corduroy pants – Uniqlo, grey jeans – Uniqlo, grey skirt – Uniqlo, faded jeans – Uniqlo
Yes, we might not all opt for off-white as one of our neutral colors because of laundry concerns, but you have to admit that it makes some really pretty ensembles! And I hope I’m convincing you that getting these 12 pieces of clothing together is a smart move to make your life easier…
love,
Janice
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This is lovely. I am one of those who is moving away from black near my face, even though I am told I look good in it. Usually, I warm it up with gold earrings or a scarf, but softer darks are on the horizon.
Moving away from black to camel and grey is exactly what I've been doing, it's fine by my face after dark but not so flattering in daylight.
Love the idea of utility pieces and just a pop of special that can be blended in once the special day is over. I hate when a once in a while event drains the coffers. This dress is great enough with the event and then can add mileage to the rest of the wardrobe. Thank you for all you do.
Love this idea. I have been phasing black out of my wardrobe except for a LBD for funerals and a black blazer.
I'm another person phasing out black.The dress comes across as a warm grey (rather than a cooler blue-grey). I'd be really interested in more options using warm grey, as it's a great neutral for those with warmer colouring. In fact I love the little beige/warm grey/ivory scheme in the illustration, it would make a great common wardrobe.
Alice
In the archives here there are quite a few posts on camel (or beige) and gray combinations.
A gorgeous outfit–and one that would be much more flattering to almost all women of a certain age than black!
no more black for me …and while I've relied on gray, I'm beginning to think that that's not such a great idea, either. More blue!!
I have added a lot of grey to my basic black wardrobe. Camel is a great shade but it doesn't do me any favours..nor does beige. I think it is because of my greying hair!
Isn't it fun having workable versatile garments in our closet just waiting to be accessorized in a creative and personal way? I so appreciate your posts.
This is a gorgeous look, and versatile. I'm still loving black, but adding more grey and cream to it, along with bits of colour. Camel and beige make me look tired, tired, tired.
I am moving away from black too. I feel like everyone at work wears black all the time, and it just gets boring. I love grey, especially with purple or turquoise.
What if you live somewhere that is too hot in the Fall for pants, or scarves, or jackets, or even long sleeves. I feel so limited, and am sick to death of dressy T-shirt style tops and khaki shorts. I want to stay cool, and look sophisticated, which is impossible with sweat stains on your silk blouse. Any ideas?
I can't help but think of a sleeveless silk v-neck (maybe with pussybow collar?) And a pleated high rise skirt in either midi or knee length. Can be integrated with what you already have and obviously in your colors.
Janice. I was the one who asked for the black grey camel and cream selection. The advice you gave has helped me tremendously to create a wearable wardrobe at last. This is a great extension to that and I will be very interested on your piece about using less black. This is my next step and will need a big change of focus. Keep up the good work this advice helps so many of us. Margo
After a lifetime of loyalty to black I'm moving away from it — navy works like a charm. There's a reason savvy chic women wear navy a lot, and you can see a lot of tonally mismatched navy on navy these days too which looks really interesting. Please continue with your French wardrobe + common wardrobe combos (genius!!), especially those that can move some of us away from black.
Janice- this is so perfect! I am more than halfway there owning most of he items in the collection. I will be adding two coat this fall–a camel dress coat and a grey pea coat. With the addition of a pair of ankle boots, I will have my perfect 10 (actually 11) item wardrobe. Thank you!!
Black does me no favors, so thank you for posting alternatives!
I adore this. Swap the ivory for a shade closer to pale beige, and it's the core of my wardrobe. I love this because this I live this capsule model (with far too many extraneous pieces thrown in) daily. These pieces…or ones I iwn that are frightfully similar…are how I live. Well done and thank you. I feel validated.